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| Valentines socks to add to the pile! |
I cast on for these socks the same time I cast on for my ridiculous Monkey socks. I tried sooooo hard to finish both for today, but I have 3 repeats to go on those Monkeys. With two pairs of socks finished in January and two pairs in February, I am well on my way to victory in my 14socksin2014 goal. Woohoo!
Like the other socks I've finished this year, I dyed this yarn while I was home a few months back. This skein is pretty special because I dyed it in a different way than most of my other skeins. I love handpainting my skeins, but it's pretty time and space consuming. My kitchen back home is a decent size, but it's pretty cluttered, so surface space is always at a premium. I wanted to try my hand at immersion dyeing with different colors, so I gave this one 2-3 different color dips in Valentines appropriate colors.
I'm really pleased with the results but there is definitely a learning curve to hand-dyeing in this way. The results can be very temperamental! I used pretty low water quantities when dyeing and made sure I exhausted each color before removing the yarn (carefully) from the dyepot/adding more dye. I had hoped to create a speckled look with the blue dye, but, like I said, this method can take on a mind of it's own and the color spread a bit more than I expected. Handpainting is still my favorite, but I'll be experimenting more with this method next time I buy yarn to dye.
I can't wait to share my Monkey socks with you all. Vanilla socks may be my favorite, but these are SUPER fun, in both pattern and colorway. I'm hoping to finish them up today, taking my WIP list from the other day down a few notches. Since I'm such a list nerd (Matt makes fun of me so much), I tried making myself a to-do list for the week on Sunday night and it's really been helping me keep on track.
Being unemployed (whoopee! ...not) has given me so much free time and it's been SO easy to get sucked into the internet and waste my entire day, especially knowing that the next day will be exactly the same. But having actual goals written down on paper? It's inspired me to keep my computer shut, get my butt off the couch and get things done. Like socks and books, runs and long walks (18 miles & counting!), blog posts and checking in with e-people I've lost touch with. I think the Sunday night list will be something I keep up with, as long as it keeps working for me.
Oh, and before I jet off I thought of another FO I haven't shared just yet. Valentine's Day is never a huge deal for us and, if I'm lucky, Matt will get me a card or a bottle of my favorite wine. This year I told him I wanted to go on a little adventure to Temecula, which is a Southern California wine region on the same-ish latitude as Rhone in France. I didn't realize this until after the fact, but it was a little treat since I love wines from that region. More on the trip later, but I knew that I still wanted to make Matt a little something for Valentines Day. I considered socks, but then I got an idea. The PERFECT idea for a Valentine.
We both agree that it's too cute to look at. I cobbled together a few patterns I already had (Matt is based on the 10th Doctor Who! Ha!!) and added a few modifications. I really love it and plan on framing it for our someday home. Matt wants me to add myself, but this is more special ;p Their love is ridiculous.
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